Two years to end garbage pile-up
THE National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), which manages garbage disposal for over 4,000 communities islandwide, indicates that procurement has started for 50 new trucks which are to be delivered in the new financial year. Another 50 have been promised for 2023-2024 fiscal.
The trucks for this fiscal period are expected to arrive in calendar year 2022, unless supply chain and shipping issues cause a delay.
The NSWMA is an agency of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development tasked with managing solid waste through public cleansing and pursuit of public health and environment programmes.
Executive director of the NSWMA Audley Gordon told the
Jamaica Observer that following two years of delay, occasioned by the onset of COVID-19 when resources were diverted to deal with the pandemic, relief is now in sight for communities islandwide which should see much-improved services when the trucks arrive.
The existing fleet comprises 100 Government-owned trucks, most of which have been to the Board of Examiners and declared at the end of their useful life. Only 63 trucks are road-worthy. Waste removal services are augmented by leasing trucks from private providers. The NSWMA also staffs the leased units.
Twenty trucks were received in 2020 but the chasm in resources is still gaping. In anticipation of the expanded and improved fleet, the authority has also started the process of procuring drivers, a category for which there is a deficit, and more sanitation workers who will be needed over time.
Weeks of delay in the collection of waste in these communities has resulted in numerous complaints. Gordon explained to the
Business Observer, “ In 2018, we got an assessment of our fleet and it was generally agreed we needed a fresh injection of reliable trucks. Because of the attrition level affecting the existing fleet and heavy usage, 150 vehicles were estimated as required.”
Periodically, new trucks were received, but the assessment showed that a total fleet refresh was needed. As Gordon outlined, “ We need at least 150 reliable trucks to cover the island. Government agreed we needed the trucks. In the 2019 budget, 100 new trucks were approved for NWSMA. Then COVID-19 came shortly thereafter and the Government, out of necessity, had to defer. Two years went by without the trucks. If you needed 100 trucks in 2018, and went two years without them, what do you think will happen?”
The result has been an acceleration of waste management challenges in the interim. Gordon said, “The shortage of reliable trucks is playing out in severe operational challenges. We have communicated this widely. Movement of waste is the kernel of what we do and we are dead in the water.
“We have some of the best staff and they work assiduously. We have communicated [the challenge] to the highest level of government and to the average man in the street. Garbage has a very emotive element to it. People just want their garbage removed. It is kind of an impossible [communication] war we are fighting.”
The Ministry of Finance and Planning (MOFP) in the 2022-2023 budget gave approval again to get 50 of the 100 trucks. Another 50 should be approved for 2023-2024.
The 50 trucks are now in procurement and are estimated to range in unit price from US$300-350,000 each. The
Business Observer estimates that total cost may fall in the region of US$15 million during the current fiscal year. A sum of $1.8 billion was budgeted in the 2022/23 estimates of expenditure to procure the vehicles under the acquisition of compactor trucks project.
Gordon stated, “We have a procurement process which will determine at the end of the day where the trucks are sourced. In normal times we could consider the back end of November. If we order in May and put manufacturing time in, they should be ready for shipping in October and here by December.”
However, he added, “Due to the much talked about supply chain issue, there is a big lag time which has even worsened with the war in Ukraine. We cannot give any direct time, as we do not know. We are hoping for the best so that we can get the trucks here by the back end of November.
“Everything takes longer now. We have challenges with maintenance [of the existing fleet] too. Some parts are sourced locally, but when they have to be imported we cannot get them at the speed we need them.”
The 100 trucks promised (due for deployment between this and the next fiscal year) would result in significant improvement of service levels, the NSWMA head said. “They would be out every day. And even if two or three are down, we could still carry on a decent operation.”
Gordon noted, “When the 50 trucks come we will need drivers. We are currently recruiting. Sanitation workers also.”
In a final word to impatient householders who are dismayed at garbage pile-up, the executive director said, “In these very troubled times as we try to manage with tight resources, we have seen several communities where we are behind.
“People are complaining and rightly so. What I would say to them, we are not here sitting down, wasting time and not coming for your garbage. We are racing against the clock to get the trucks. In the meantime, we applaud your patience. We have challenges now, but we are on the wicket. We are doing everything to ensure a better service.”
He added, “We also want to encourage better containerisation of garbage.
“Keep the garbage together for us. Some people do not containerise at all and you have to spend time scraping it up. It puts extra pressure on crews and wastes time and fuel. The truck has to park in full throttle while waiting.
“Rain falls and garbage finds its way into culverts and clog up the drains. It’s a win-win when we properly containerise and package.
“Until the trucks come, exercise patience.”